Population and migration

7.2 Population growth and overpopulation

An image of the Earth showing population density as a series of spikes. The higher the spike, the higher the population density

Population density. Data from the G-Econ project gecon.yale.edu/

Work found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/375127836/. Licensed by Anders Sandberg under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) licence]

Is the planet full? Do we have enough natural resources to serve the needs of the world population? These are some of the questions that social scientists, demographers in particular, have addressed. We are familiar with reading in the media messages which appear to be contradictory. On the one hand, the planet seems to be overpopulated with currently over 7 billion inhabitants. On the other hand we read about the danger of ageing and fertility decline to the sustainability of our welfare states. Population growth is due to the increase of fertility rates but also to the reduction of mortality rates: economic prosperity correlates with the reduction in fertility rates due, among other things, to the decline in child mortality and increased access to education for women. Population ageing also correlates with economic prosperity: better nutrition and health provision increases life expectancy. These factors have led to the reduction of birth rates, to a progressive reversal of the population pyramids in many countries of the world. This unit will explore key explanations for these phenomena, as well as discussing how the fear of overpopulation ought to be replaced by the fear of unequal distribution of resources.

Individual activity: Population and migration

Read pp. 213–30 of the course textbook.

Post on your glossary the definitions for the following terms: fertility rate, mortality rate, infant mortality rate.

Group activity: Global population growth

Watch the short video ‘Global population growth’ TEDx talk by Hans Rosling. Remember that you can activate the subtitles if needed.

Hans Rosling states in the video that green energy is one of the paths for stopping population growth. Write down in the Population forum what other global measures you think would be useful to achieve a balance in population size (max 250 words). Comment on each other’s posts.

Individual activity: The threat of women’s fertility

Read the blog post on ‘Threat of women’s fertility.’

In this blog post the visual representation of overpopulation as women of the Global South is discussed. Write down in your notes what alternative images should be used to represent the causes for concern of overpopulation.